Earthquakes hit Türkiye’s iron exports

ISTANBUL

The devastating earthquakes that jolted Türkiye’s southern provinces in early February also impacted the country’s iron exports, according to a business group.

“Most of the metals and kitchenware production facilities were in the earthquake-hit areas. The impact of the disaster on the industry’s exports was around 10 percent,” said Çetin Tecdelioğlu, the president of the Istanbul Ferrous and Non-Ferrous Metals Exporters’ Association (İDDMİB).

The exports by the ferrous and non-ferrous metals industry declined by 13.6 percent in the first quarter of 2023 from a year ago to $3.34 billion, data from the association showed.

In March alone, shipments to foreign markets fell 14.6 percent compared with the same month of 2022 to $1.25 billion.

Türkiye’s crude steel production contracted by 28.9 percent year-on-year to 2.1 million tons, while the industry’s output fell 23.1 percent to 4.7 million tons in the first two months of the year, according to data from the Türkiye Steel Producers’ Association (TÇÜD).

Local consumption declined by 7.7 percent on an annual basis to 5.5 million tons.

The facilities in the earthquake hit İskenderun and Osmaniye provinces accounted for 32 percent of Türkiye’s crude steel production and crude steel capacity, TÇÜD said. The country’s production fell nearly 29 percent due to the interruptions to production because of the earthquakes, according to the association.

With the 2.1 million tons of production, Türkiye ranked 10th largest crude steel producer in the world in February.

The industry’s exports were down nearly 45 percent year-on-year to 1.4 million tons, while export revenues fell 49.5 percent to $1.2 billion.

Experts expect demand for cement, iron and steel to increase in the coming months as projects kickstart for the construction of tens of thousands of houses and other buildings in the earthquake hit provinces.